The worrying stories also claim another 12 victims were executed at the same time, and that member's of Hyon's family are being held in prison under 'guilt by association laws' and for possessing contraband when searched.

The extreme and punitive pornography laws of North Korea aside, the fate of mistresses to the powerful is seldom a good one. History is littered with stories of women who were courted by the rich and powerful, only to be discarded when they became inconvenient.

There's an old saying that a man who marries his mistress creates a vacancy… so, too, does the man who has his mistress bumped off in order to save his own skin, or for revenge. And that's not the only risk. Simply being connected to power - even if never solemnised in marriage - can be enough to bring vengeful opponents to the door – as many women throughout history have found out.

Madame du Barry was the last official mistress of King Louis XV of France. It was those old connections during the French Revolution that did for her. Arrested after accusations were made that she was using hidden jewels to pay for smuggling royalists out of France, she was convicted by the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris in 1792, beheaded, and her corpse disposed in the Madeleine Cemetery along with countless other victims of the Terror.

While Clara Petacci, the mistress of Benito Mussolini, shared his ultimate fate of being shot in April 1945. Photographs and postcards of the two lovers' corpses were a popular item sold to triumphant US soldiers in Italy.

Mary Hamilton, a Scottish woman who was one of Peter the Great of Russia's many mistresses, found that rivalry between her benefactors spelled trouble. As well as bedding the Tsar, she also hooked up with another nobleman. When his eye began to wander elsewhere, though, she attempted to win him back…using gifts she had filched from the Empress. This betrayal was discovered, and led to more revelations including accusations of abortions and infanticide.

Were some, any, or all of the accusations against these women - especially and including the ex-girlfriend of North Korea's leader - true? Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tell. History has a way of heaping additional insults on the memory of women deemed to be outside the norm, or not "good" women.

Men and especially powerful men in politics are permitted to be complicated people with private lives… the women they associate with, not so much. We forgive the Bill Clintons of the world, but who even knows what Monica Lewinsky is up to these days? For them it's angel or harlot, and very little in between.

Jealousy or envy can so easily lead people to hurl all kinds of accusations at women they dislike. It would seem that, as ever, being labelled a "bad" woman means people will (and do) believe any old cobblers about you regardless of the evidence - or lack thereof. Only for most of us, the whispers and backstabbing behind closed doors rarely turns into the real deal.